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KARACHI: WhatsApp has rejected claims of a data leak of around 500 million users that was reported over the weekend.
The Meta-owned instant messaging application has come forward and rejected the claim that the data was leaked from WhatsApp. However, this does not mean that the leaked data is not legitimate.
The denial came after reports that almost half a billion WhatsApp records have been breached by and are up for sale at a well-known hacking community forum. Reports suggested that an actor posted an ad on a well-known hacking community forum, claiming they were selling a 2022 database of 487 million WhatsApp user mobile numbers, which contains data from 84 countries.
Also read: Half a billion WhatsApp records breached, up for sale
This means that almost one-quarter of all WhatsApp’s estimated two billion monthly active users are possible at risk. WhatsApp is reported to have more than two billion monthly active users globally.
WhatsApp spokesperson told a group of selected media that the data leak claims were unsubstantiated screenshots. The spokesperson said, “the claim written on a news website is based on unsubstantiated screenshots. There is no evidence of a ‘data leak’ from WhatsApp.”
Also read: WhatsApp to introduce screen lock for web users
WhatApp’s claims that the leak was not from their end leads us to another suspect which is ‘scrapping’. Scrapping of data can be done from various public websites and platforms. While the data could not be confirmed to be sourced from WhatsApp, the impact on the end user is still bad.
